(‘You guys, I just had the craziest dream. I was in the UFC and people kept exploiting my weak takedown defense, and it was like I was powerless to stop them…’)

After suffering his second loss in a row and his third defeat in the last four outings, Josh "The Dentist" Neer has been released from the UFC, ending his third tour of duty inside the Octagon.  It’s not exactly a surprise to anyone who saw his scrap with Gleison Tibau at UFC 104 last weekend.  In a fight that never was pay-per-view quality to begin with, Neer spent three rounds getting slammed on his back and embarrassing the entire state of Iowa with his poor takedown defense before losing via unanimous decision.  At UFC 101 in August he suffered a similar fate against Kurt Pellegrino, who also outwrestled Neer en route to a plodding decision.  It’s hard enough to stay in the UFC when you’re losing exciting fights.  Getting blanked in boring ones is a sure-fire way to get out of that restrictive UFC contract you hate so much.

Neer is now 25-9-1 for his career, and 4-6 in the UFC.  Good thing he has that DDS to fall back on, maybe open his own practice somewhere in Bettendorf.  See kids, never underestimate the value of a good education.  If Neer didn’t have that right now, why, it would be a really, really depressing time for him.